Scrapbooking can be a rewarding task, but to the uninitiated, it can seem quite overwhelming. The important thing to remember in scrapbooking is to have fun with it! These are your pictures, your friends, your family, you can’t do it “wrong”! To begin, you need some basic supplies. These can be purchased from a variety of locations. Obviously, any craft or photo store will have these supplies and many more, but I find that my local dollar store often has quality supplies at prices that fit my budget.

• Copies of pictures (be sure that you do not use your originals)
• Other small keepsakes or even newspaper or magazine articles, depending on what your focus is.
• Scissors (if you can, try to get some decorative scissors)
• Glue (glue sticks work best – just be sure that you get archival quality)
• A scrapbook
• Scrapbook paper
• Embellishments (these can include things like gems, ribbon, rivets, borders for photos, stencils, stickers, lettering, etc.)
• Colored pens and markers (also archival quality)

There are many “starter kits” available that have these items and more in them, and these are perfect for beginners. They also include sample pages, suggestions, and ideas for layout.

First, go through your original photos.  Not every picture is scrapbook-worthy, and it is not necessary to include every single picture.  Pictures that are ideal for scrapbooking have the subject(s) in clear focus, or capture a unique moment.   These pictures may not always be “perfect” though, which is really the purpose of scrapbooking – to memorialize the best (or sometimes worst) of a specific person, event, or moment in time.  Make copies of any pictures you feel you may use.  Now you can cut and crop to your heart’s content without worrying about damaging the original picture.  Cropping should cut out any unnecessary background, extra people, etc, leaving only your subject.  If you have decorative scissors, use regular scissors to make the major cuts and then use the decorative scissors to embellish the edges.  If you make a “mistake” or decide that you don’t like what you have done to this copy of the picture, you can always make another copy.  Also, just because you have made a copy of a picture does not necessarily mean that you must use it.  Scrapbooking is very much about flow and balance.  If it doesn’t seem to “fit” with what you have, don’t try to force it. 

Scrapbook paper often has a theme (i.e. “wedding,” “vacation,” “summer,” etc.)  Use this to your advantage.  Often, it is a good idea to do a two-page spread.  This will give you a larger canvas to work on, and the ability to use more pictures without risking looking cramped.

Once you have all your pictures cropped as you want them, you can begin to add borders, backgrounds, and other embellishments to them.   Always arrange the items in the order that you are planning to use before gluing them down.  This will give you the opportunity to see what the final result will be and make any necessary changes.  After everything is glued to its permanent home, you can use your markers and pens to add captions to the pictures, identify people in the pictures, add dates, or phrases to the page itself.  Calligraphy is useful in scrapbooking, and it is a relatively easy skill to learn.  If you like, you can also insert journal entries or poetry.

Once again, the purpose of scrapbooking is to showcase your memories.  Have fun with it!  If you like it, it’s perfect!  They ensure that you will have many interesting conversations each time a guest curiously picks up your book.  In addition to scrapbooking your own ideas, consider making scrapbooks for close friends or family members.  Scrapbooks make excellent gifts for many occasions, such as birthdays, deployments, anniversaries, baby showers, bridal showers, and almost any other occasion.